Transfer to Costco

[Shanti]

Thanks - I'm thinking of going down this route. What happens if you cancel your cruise (within the refund deadline) after the transfer? I assume that a part of the reason for the transfer is for Disney to offload all subsequent payment processing to Costco. Would Costco raise an issue with refunding on the AMEX (which could mean, at all)?

I assume that the money will be refunded to the original form of payment, but if you're concerned, I recommend calling Costco Travel to ask. I've never done that.

 

[Derry Wade]

Since when does Disney not accept AMEX?

The OP is asking about paying a lot on AMEX BEFORE transferring.

Just a side note, Costco stopped taking AMEX in June 2016

 

[Dug720]

Just a side note, Costco stopped taking AMEX in June 2016

But the poster was not asking about paying Costco with AMEX. They were asking about paying DISNEY before transferring it.

 

[Derry Wade]

But the poster was not asking about paying Costco with AMEX. They were asking about paying DISNEY before transferring it.

Sorry - I got that but somehow misread your question. Please disregard!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I didn't think it mattered whether Costco took AMEX or not because Costco isn't the one processing the payment with AMEX. All Costco will do is call and give the card number to DCL, then DCL processes the payment. If there needs to be a refund, it works the same way. DCL will process a refund to AMEX. You aren't paying Costco first and then Costco paying DCL. The Costco TA is just relaying the payment information. Just like Costco doesn't accept Disney gift cards for payment at their stores, but you can use Disney gift cards to pay for DCL cruises when using Costco as your TA.

 

[virtuoso1989]

Thanks - I'm thinking of going down this route. What happens if you cancel your cruise (within the refund deadline) after the transfer? I assume that a part of the reason for the transfer is for Disney to offload all subsequent payment processing to Costco. Would Costco raise an issue with refunding on the AMEX (which could mean, at all)?

The payment does not even get touched by Costco. It goes directly to Disney. as long as you can still cancel, the funds should go back to the original payment method.

Funny story, I was booking a cruise add-on through Adventures by Disney. The cruise was under Costco so ABD wouldnt even talk to me. Costco travel agent did not know what to do (she was initially telling me she couldnt do it and that I had to call ABD for the add-on). So we were in a conference with abd, and she had to be on the line while I was giving my credit card info to ABD.

 

[Billinaz]

I didn't think it mattered whether Costco took AMEX or not because Costco isn't the one processing the payment with AMEX. All Costco will do is call and give the card number to DCL, then DCL processes the payment. If there needs to be a refund, it works the same way. DCL will process a refund to AMEX. You aren't paying Costco first and then Costco paying DCL. The Costco TA is just relaying the payment information. Just like Costco doesn't accept Disney gift cards for payment at their stores, but you can use Disney gift cards to pay for DCL cruises when using Costco as your TA.

It does. I tried to use a card other than Visa/MC and they said they could not do it even though they were not charging it and DCL was. Just their policy.

 

[doublesided]

I didn't think it mattered whether Costco took AMEX or not because Costco isn't the one processing the payment with AMEX. All Costco will do is call and give the card number to DCL, then DCL processes the payment. If there needs to be a refund, it works the same way. DCL will process a refund to AMEX. You aren't paying Costco first and then Costco paying DCL. The Costco TA is just relaying the payment information. Just like Costco doesn't accept Disney gift cards for payment at their stores, but you can use Disney gift cards to pay for DCL cruises when using Costco as your TA.

I just asked Costco 5 minutes ago and they said absolutely no Amex but they would take Disney GC.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

It does. I tried to use a card other than Visa/MC and they said they could not do it even though they were not charging it and DCL was. Just their policy.

But if the OP charges it to AMEX before transferring and then later cancels, Disney would be processing the refund to AMEX and it wouldn't matter that Costco doesn't take AMEX, correct?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Since payment goes directly to DCL, I believe you can use any payment method that Disney accepts -- which includes AMEX and Disney gift cards. No need to get the payments all in before transferring.

Enjoy your cruise!

But the poster was not asking about paying Costco with AMEX. They were asking about paying DISNEY before transferring it.

Paying with Amex before and after transferring to Costco were both mentioned in previous posts. I just paid my deposit to DCL with Amex and am in the process of transferring to Costco. Costco doesn’t care how I paid the deposit. They do however only accept Visa / MC and Disney GCs once the reservation is transferred to them.

 

[Billinaz]

But if the OP charges it to AMEX before transferring and then later cancels, Disney would be processing the refund to AMEX and it wouldn't matter that Costco doesn't take AMEX, correct?

Correct.

 

[Canesfan3234]

Can a Florida resident rate guaranteed room be transferred to Costco? They don’t have those rates available on their website so I figured I’d ask here. Tia.

 

[lanejudy]

Can a Florida resident rate guaranteed room be transferred to Costco? They don’t have those rates available on their website so I figured I’d ask here. Tia.

Does the rate require you to PIF at booking? If so, then it can’t be transferred. There must be a balance remaining to transfer a reservation.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[Maesa]

I'm looking over the this discussion and is completely confused. Looks like people are booking their cruise with Disney but than transfer to Costco......Should I be doing this for my future cruise? What are the incentives of doing this? Thank you. Cruised 2x but did it directly through DCL and getting ready to book another for next year because I put the place hold with DCL on my last cruise so I thought I could only make the reservations through DCL.... Thank you !

 

[southerngirl528]

'm looking over the this discussion and is completely confused. Looks like people are booking their cruise with Disney but than transfer to Costco......Should I be doing this for my future cruise? What are the incentives of doing this? Thank you. Cruised 2x but did it directly through DCL and getting ready to book another for next year because I put the place hold with DCL on my last cruise so I thought I could only make the reservations through DCL.... Thank you !

Costco gives a Costco cash card for booking a cruise through them. The amount will vary depending on the price of the cruise you book. It can easily be a few hundred dollars.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I'm looking over the this discussion and is completely confused. Looks like people are booking their cruise with Disney but than transfer to Costco......Should I be doing this for my future cruise? What are the incentives of doing this? Thank you. Cruised 2x but did it directly through DCL and getting ready to book another for next year because I put the place hold with DCL on my last cruise so I thought I could only make the reservations through DCL.... Thank you !

In a general sense it's very well worth it to transfer a reservation to Costco - or another TA perhaps. Costco is a bit of an nontraditional TA in that you don't have much of a relationship with Costco as agent, but they are the go-between, and because they can't discount DCL rates, they give back a cash card in the 7-8% range of the cruise price (before port fees and taxes). However, if you are going to be using a placeholder to book your next cruise, you won't be able to transfer that cruise reservation to Costco UNLESS you booked the placeholder itself less than 30 days ago. The placeholder is a reservation, and if you want Costco or another TA to handle it, it has to be transferred within 30 days of booking - not within 30 days of when you 'convert' it into a real cruising date reservation.

 

[Canesfan3234]

What is the point of a place holder cruise.

 

[southerngirl528]

What is the point of a place holder cruise.

Booking a placeholder for another Disney cruise, while you are currently ON a DCL cruise, gets you a lower deposit requirement, 10% off the prevailing rate at time of booking as well as an onboard credit for that upcoming placeholder cruise.

 

[Canesfan3234]

Yes. It doesn't matter how much you've paid Disney, as long as you aren't paid in full. You could pay everything but $1 and you'd be fine. I actually was paid in full early, then decided to transfer to Costco, so I added gratuities to be no longer paid in full, and then I was able to do the transfer. Well over 95% of our cruise costs were already paid at the time of transfer.

can you explain how you did this? paid in full but want to transfer to costco. yes im under 30 days

 

[Shanti]

can you explain how you did this? paid in full but want to transfer to costco. yes im under 30 days

I called DCL & added prepayment of gratuities, but didn't pay for them during the call. Then I transferred the cruise to Costco. You could also just switch to a higher category stateroom without paying for the increase, transfer to Costco, and then switch back to the prior category. That way no DCL call would be needed, but you would have to call Costco to later to change to stateroom category back to what you really want. You should only do that if you aren't set on a specific stateroom, though.